SEEING RED? STAY CALM
Blood in the eye can be quite frightening.
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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient
2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer
3. Quick Wrap-up
Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.
Counselling Conundrum: “I woke up and a patch of the white of my eye is bright red. It doesn’t hurt, but it looks awful. Is it serious? Do I need drops?”
Concise Conclusion: It looks dramatic, but it’s a small bleed under the clear surface of the eye, like a bruise. It clears on its own, so the best treatment is simply waiting for it to heal. Try not to rub it, and see your doctor if it keeps returning, something happened to the eye, or it doesn't go away in around 1-3 weeks.
Quick Wrap-up: Most of these bleeds follow a bout of straining, coughing, sneezing or vomiting. A single, rare episode is nothing to worry about. The red flags are trauma to the eye, redness covering more than about 80% of the eye, or recurrence that isn’t tied to a strain or cough. Those patients need a referral rather than reassurance.
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